Flexport is flipping the Convoy platform to truckload freight marketplace operator DAT Freight & Analytics nearly two years after acquiring the freight-matching service.
DAT Freight & Analytics will integrate the platform within its DAT One service. DAT One is a subscription-based load board where nearly 700,000 loads are posted daily.
Convoy is designed to match shippers with trucking carriers, helping them save money on the process while the carriers get easier access to cargo to transport. Truckers who use the platform could find work without having to go through third-party brokers via emails and phone calls.
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Nearly 30,000 carriers—primarily owner-operators and small trucking companies—use Convoy to find loads, manage paperwork, receive payments and more.
Under DAT’s portfolio, Convoy will allow trucking brokers to access both automated and hands-on freight-matching options, supported by the marketplace operator’s scale and reach, which has a database exceeding $1 trillion in total freight transactions.
Neither party confirmed the financial terms of the sale.
“The acquisition of Convoy demonstrates DAT’s ongoing commitment to enhancing network value for our customers,” said Jeff Clementz, DAT president and CEO in a statement. “Together, we will give customers a better, broader freight-matching network, the ability to manage more loads and capture incrementally more business, and ultimately more choice.”
After the deal was announced Monday, Flexport CEO and founder Ryan Petersen called the move a “win-win-win” for all parties involved, saying the investment “paid off.”
“When we acquired the Convoy Platform in November 2023, our goal was to preserve an important piece of logistics technology that was on the verge of disappearing. Over the past 18 months, we rebuilt and relaunched the platform as a neutral digital freight execution layer that serves brokers, carriers, and shippers across the market,” Petersen said. “We brought tens of thousands of high-quality carriers back onto the platform, reignited broker adoption, and proved that this technology has tremendous value and potential.”
According to Petersen, Convoy needed to be a neutral infrastructure layer that integrates shippers, brokers and carriers. But the platform itself couldn’t be seen as a neutral technology in the industry if it was owned by Flexport, which itself is a freight forwarder, said Petersen.
Flexport will keep the digital brokerage business it first acquired in the Convoy acquisition.
Convoy had shut down in October 2023 days before selling its technology stack to Flexport, in what had been a rough period for freight tech companies that had struggled to pull in revenue during the start of the freight recession in 2022. While Convoy had at one point been valued at $3.8 billion after raising $260 million in April that year, venture capital funding and M&A deals had dried up during the period of elevated interest rates and lower freight demand.
Flexport resurrected the platform in February 2024, giving its customers and legacy Convoy shippers access to the app. Later that year, the platform was extended to brokers.
Brokers can use the platform to maximize reach and effectiveness of carrier operations teams and automate manual tasks, including carrier negotiation, vetting, status updates and document management.
Convoy’s features extend beyond its freight-matching marketplace in areas including fraud protection and payments.
The platform’s proprietary technology uses machine learning and AI models to verify carriers on the network and block malicious actors. These advanced security features can ideally help brokers reduce their risk of fraud and access a network of carrier capacity, all while increasing their efficiency and growing their business.
Every carrier on the Convoy platform is eligible to get paid via payment service provider QuickPay. The service is available on every load on the platform, providing another option for fast payouts to carriers.
DAT’s Convoy purchase complements its slew of services including freight data analytics service DAT iQ, as well as two recently acquired technologies, load visibility provider Trucker Tools and freight financial services platform Outgo.
The Convoy platform’s engineers, product experts, and operations professionals will continue to be led by Bill Driegert, who will join DAT’s executive leadership team. Driegert served as the executive vice president and head of trucking at Flexport, leading the team ahead of the Convoy acquisition as the company sought to build out its trucking services. Dreigert also previously headed operations at Uber Freight.
